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THE
NEW CARS
It’s
Alive
Eleven
Seven Records
by
Todd K Smith
http://www.thecutting-edge.net/
 There
was a time between 1979 and 1984 that the Cars ruled the airwaves.
In some cities and retro-radio markets they still do. Yet, since
the late eighties, no one has seen the band play their hits
live. That was almost twenty years ago and a couple of the original
members of the Boston-based hit makers want to change that.
“We’ve been sitting around long enough,” says
keyboardist Greg Hawkes from his Cambridge cottage. “We
actually tried for a couple years to get Ric (Ocasek) onboard,
but it’s difficult these days. He’s busy with his
family and producing, so schedules didn’t match.”
With
more that two-dozen top 40 hits to their name, fan demand for
a full-blown Cars tour has been building over the last decade.
Lumped in with the same pre-new wave pile as Blondie, Talking
Heads and Boomtown Rats, the Cars clashed between proto-punk,
 garage
rock and bubblegum pop. That was what made them the most successful
radio entity of the late seventies. Their influence has spilled
over in buckets to today’s hipsters like the Vines, the
Killers, Interpol and Fountains of Wayne. “When you write
songs that are ageless, timeless, and considered by all accounts
to be classics,” says VH1 Senior VP Eric Sherman, “your
audience never fades. It only grows stronger.”
Enter
a room full of accountants, lawyers and VH1 execs. Original
Cars guitarist Elliot Easton had spent the last few years in
Creedence Clearwater Revisited. Greg Hawkes was becoming a ukulele
specialist, Ben Orr had sadly lost his battle with pancreatic
cancer (October 3, 2000). Ric Ocasek never seemed that interested
and drummer Dave Robinson - who really knows? – last anyone
heard he was an art collector. Yet the wheels started turning.
VH1’s idea was to pair the Cars with Blondie who were
fresh off their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
and call the tour “Road Rage 2006.”
“It
took some doing but we finally all arrived at the same place
mentally and musically,” says Hawkes. To understand how
it all came about you need to connect the dots. The Cars had
played with Utopia (MKII) in the late seventies hence introducing
Todd Rundgren (producer/musician/songwriter extraordinaire)
and bass/vocalist Kasim Sulton to the group. Rundgren produced
the Tubes thus connecting him to drummer Prairie Prince. The
two have been inseparable since. When the idea of a Cars reunion
was mentioned, Rundgren already had a built in rhythm section,
making it an easy deal.
After
the ink was dry on the contracts, several lengthy rehearsals
took place. Says Hawkes, “The songs came together relatively
easy. Todd comes from the same place I do from the Beatles to
Kraftwerk and Devo. He knows every element of the music business
and has proven  himself
as a musician. It was almost too easy.” For Hawkes and
Easton connecting with Sulton and Prince was refreshing and
invigorating. “They are both seasoned pros,” continues
Hawkes. “Amazing musicians that find there way very quickly.”
So quickly in fact that the band wrote three new tracks almost
effortlessly. They decided to call the group the new
Cars, not only out of respect for the band but also to introduce
the lineup to a whole new audience.
For
Hawkes, The New Cars are more than just a band built by the
industry to promote a greatest hits package. It’s a hard
working, remarkably contemporary outfit committed to rolling
out the goods for the fans. “Audiences know these songs,”
says Rundgren “and want to re-experience them in a live
context. As The New Cars, we want to pay homage to the Cars
knowing that the best-known songs are the essential core –
that’s what we’re hanging our hats on.” To
promote the Road Rage Tour 2006, The New Cars have recorded
It’s Alive, an 18-track compilation of highlights
including “Shake It Up,” “Let’s Go,”
“Just What I Needed” and “Best Friend’s
Girl” to name a few. They have also added their three
new studio songs “Not Tonight,” “Warm”
and “More” which will see their live debut during
the tour.
“Playing
with this band has brought back a flood of memories for me,”
says Hawkes. “All the way back to when I was first rehearsing
with Ric (Ocasek) and Ben (Orr) in Boston – playing The
Rat club before it burned down. Todd, Kasim and Prairie, these
guy’s musical history goes back just as far – that’s
why it’s such a good fit.” Elliot Easton later comments,
“We’ll do some Cars stuff live as well as some of
Todd’s songs, but what were most excited about is the
new material we’ve recorded and that we have the ability
to move forward as a new band and do new studio albums of new
material.”
With
each ticket purchased through VH1classic.com or Ticketmaster.com,
concert goers will receive a confirmation email with a code
to redeem a ten-song free download (five Cars, five Blondie)
plus a new track from each artist. The New Cars It’s
Alive hits stores June 6th. In our area The New
Cars Road Rage Tour ’06 arrives at the Reno Event Center
May 26th, show starts at 8:00PM. Tickets are going
fast.
Website:
The
New Cars
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